North Springs Little League Senior Division manager Dustin Brian thought his All-Star team was built around pitching and defense.

In 11 playoff games, he has found his team to also be pretty good at the plate. The unbeaten squad from North Community Park in Coral Springs has outscored the opposition, 127-11. Seven of those 11 games have failed to go the distance with North Springs winning each by the 10-run mercy rule.

The team punched its ticket back to the Senior League World Series in Easley, South Carolina with three convincing wins in the Southeast Regional competition in Safety Harbor. North Springs opened with a 19-1 win over Georgia and followed that up with a 16-1 thrashing of North Carolina. North Springs then blanked Virginia, 13-0 to win its second straight Southeast Regional title.

“We pride ourselves on pitching and defense,” Brian said. “The offensive numbers have been a little bit of a surprise, but they have just gained confidence as they have gone along. I knew how good our pitching was. We felt they would give up three runs or fewer in every game and that has allowed our offense to just relax.”

In the opening win over Georgia, Timmy Manning struck out all six batters he faced to pick up the win. Colin Flynn and Mikey Sarakinis each had multiple hits, and Flynn and Coby Mayo each hit home runs. Mayo’s hit was a grand slam in an 11-run third inning.

Against North Carolina, North Springs clubbed five home runs as Caleb Cyr went yard twice, as did Mayo, Timmy Manning and Flynn. Mayo, Flynn and Jhan Ledezma all had three RBI. Matt Hendrix tossed a complete game, scattering two hits in five innings while striking out four.

Cyr had two hits and drove in five runs in the championship game against Virginia, while Mayo added two hits, three RBI and three runs. Ledezma chipped in with two hits and three runs. Cyr, Mayo and Sarakinis all went yard in the win. Timmy Manning went three hitless innings and struck out eight.

Five players are back from last year’s team that recorded a 12-2 national championship win over Hawaii to advance to the World Series final. However, they came up a run short in the title game losing 5-4 to Aguadulce Cabezera (Panama). North Springs fell behind 5-1 and rallied late to close to within a run.

Brian believes this year’s team could win it all.

“The way our pitching is going right now, I definitely believe we can win it all,” Brian said. “I honestly feel we can. I honestly don’t know what we are facing until we see the teams, but they would have to be awfully good to beat this group of boys.”

“We have the five guys back from last year’s team and they have provided some great leadership,” Brian said. “Some of the new guys we added could have played with us last year and after watching us on TV they decided they wanted to play this season. A lot of these guys have played together since they were (age) 9, even if they weren’t on the team last year.”

One of the stars on the mound has been Timmy Manning. He didn’t play on last year’s squad, but watched on TV and has played in the North Springs Little League since age 9 with many of the players. He also played on some of the All-Star teams.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said the 16-year-old Manning, who will enter his junior year at Cardinal Gibbons High School next month. “We have a bunch of guys who throw hard and it helps to have the offense that we have. I walked out to the mound in the championship game with a 5-0 lead and it is easy to relax and pitch with this group.”

Coral Springs’ Coby Mayo was one of the players on last year’s squad, and he again has been an offensive catalyst for the team this year.

“It definitely stung losing the world championship game by one run,” said Mayo, also 16 and who will be a junior at Marjory Douglas High School. “I don’t think last year’s team had the bond that this year’s team has. This team wants it more than ever. It was our first time playing in the World Series, and even though there are just five guys from that team, we learned from that (experience) and we know what to expect now.

“We have a lot of great hitters, outstanding hitters,” Mayo added. “We have great pitchers and a great coaching staff. I honestly believe that there is no team that can beat us because we have the greatest talent.”